1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a cleaning device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copy machine, a printer, and the like, and an image forming apparatus provided with the cleaning device.
2. Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a copy machine, a printer, and the like is provided with an image forming unit that applies an image forming process to paper. In the image forming unit, an image carrier is disposed and an image (toner image) is formed on the paper. An electrostatic latent image is formed on a surface of a photoreceptor drum, which is the image carrier, and a toner image is formed in such a way that a toner adheres electrostatically to the electrostatic latent image. By feeding a sheet of paper to a place on the surface of the photoreceptor drum in which the toner image is formed and performing a transfer process, the toner image is transferred to the paper.
On the other hand, residual toner that has not been completely transferred and electrical discharge product generated during formation of the electrostatic latent image are adhered to the surface of the photoreceptor drum after transfer of the toner image. Such residual toner or electrical discharge product may prevent the next image formation. In other words, if toner or electrical discharge product remains on the surface of the photoreceptor drum, uneven application of toner and charged defects may occur during the next image formation and a satisfactory transferred image may not be obtained. For this, the image forming apparatus is provided with a cleaning device for removing adhesion matter (toner, electrical discharge product, and the like) on the surface of the photoreceptor drum.
FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional cleaning device. As shown in FIG. 8, a cleaning device 1 includes a cleaning roller b. The cleaning roller b is disposed to be in contact with a photoreceptor drum c. By rotating the cleaning roller b in a state of contacting the photoreceptor drum c, the surface of the photoreceptor drum c is rubbed. The cleaning roller b has a function of physically and electrostatically removing adhesion matter (toner, electrical discharge product, and the like) on the surface of the photoreceptor drum c.
The adhesion matter on the surface of the photoreceptor drum c thus removed by the cleaning roller b is collected on the inside of the cleaning device a. Between the housing d and the photoreceptor drum c of the cleaning device a, a sealing member e is provided. Leakage of collected matter (not illustrated) to the outside of the housing d is thus prevented, and scattering of the toner to peripheral members of the cleaning device a (for example, a transfer device, a charging device and the like) is further prevented.
In the conventional art, the abovementioned sealing member is generally fixed by a screw to the housing. However, the screw may be loosened due to vibration generated by operation of the image forming apparatus. In other words, the vibration generated in association with operations such as a cleaning operation and image forming operation may be transmitted the screw, loosen the screw and unscrew the screw. Therefore, it has been difficult to completely prevent leakage of the toner collected on the inside of the cleaning device (housing) to the outside of the cleaning device. In addition, since the abovementioned fixing by a screw in the conventional art requires a step of fixing by the screw, there is a problem of an increased number of steps for assembling the cleaning device and reduced production efficiency.